The last two mornings I have found myself driving to work with one song pounding out in my brain. The song is "I Lift My Eyes Up". The song, as many of you know, comes straight from the Psalms...Psalm 121 to be specific.
1I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2 My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
3He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
I realize that this song comes into my heart at the perfect time. Last night there was some very small drama as we thought one band had already canceled on us without telling us. That turned out to not be true but for about an hour the sin within me was rising up and championing thoughts like, "Oh great...we've done all this publicity and now somebody's not gonna show." I was negative for that hour until a song came back into my mind from earlier that morning. Psalm 121 filled up my head and all of a sudden I realized I was getting worked up for no reason whatsoever. For a brief moment sin got hold of me and made me start thinking all kinds of crazy things...but Psalm 121 reminded me that God is not slumbering. He is making preparations for He Reigns that we can't possibly understand. We at Oasis are making all kinds of plans for the weekend but we are also mindful that our plans and God's plans most likely have some very key differences. The reinforcement of God's sovereignty in all things was crucial to my turnaround of attitude after that one "self-centered" hour. Vigilance is my cry today.
BE VIGILANT
I love the word "vigilant". One definition that I've seen of that word is "sleeplessly watchful". Remember the words of Psalm 121:3, "He will not let you be moved; he who keeps you will not slumber." God is sleeplessly watchful. God is sleeplessly working. To say that God is vigilant is simply a true statement. While we cannot be vigilant in the same sense that God is vigilant as our sovereign God, we can however develop true grit and undeterred resolve in our faith. So far I have called upon us as a church family to do two things: Be expectant and savor God in worship. Now to that we must add vigilance. It requires diligence to pray each day. It requires discipline to savor God in worship each day of our lives. It takes a great maturity of faith to be expectant for the Lord.
Today we need several things to continue. We need continued prayers that God would send us a harvest this weekend. We need continued prayers that God would provide us with the help that we need to coordinate all the varying aspects of this event. We need continued prayers that God would reveal to us the best ways that we can bring great glory to His name. We just need to pray, and pray, and pray, and pray. This will require you to be vigilant.
To close this thought out let's heed the words of James 5:16, "The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working." Be vigilant in your expectancy, in your worship, and in your prayer. I'll be back with you tomorrow.
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